Mangla Dam Upraising – Pakistan government’s another favour to people of Kashmir.

Mangla Dam Upraising – Pakistan government’s another favour to people of Kashmir. Dr Shabir Choudhry

Presentation made by Dr Shabir Choudhry, Chairman Diplomatic Committee of Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front, in a seminar held in room 22, during the UN Sub Commission on Human Rights in Geneva, on 06 August 2003.

Mangla Dam Upraising – Pakistan government’s another favour to people of Kashmir. Dr Shabir Choudhry 06 August 2003
Email: drshabirchoudhry@gmail.com

Mr Chairman and distinguished guests

It has become habit of us Kashmiris to criticise with full force whatever India does wrong in Kashmir; and turn blind eye when Pakistan does something wrong. It is partly due to this wrong policy of Kashmiris that we are still forcibly divided and continue to suffer.

We should learn to call spade a spade, and criticise both governments on their Kashmir policies and human rights abuses in their respective parts of Kashmir. By only criticising India and by ignoring wrong doings of Pakistan we have played in to hands of Pakistani agencies who wanted to give this message to the world that it is only Indian side of Kashmir which is disputed and Kashmiris on Pakistani side of the divide are happy with Pakistan.

Mr Chairman

That aside I want to focus my attention on just one aspect of Pakistan’s policy towards people of Azad Kashmir, and that will give some idea how much love and care Pakistani authorities have for people of Kashmir.

According to UN resolutions the State of Jammu and Kashmir is a disputed territory, and when the government of Pakistan built a dam in 1967, which is known as the Mangla Dam in Azad Kashmir, it was illegal and against wishes of the local people. The construction of the dam was fiercely opposed by the local people of Mirpur, but this opposition was ruthlessly put down; and the project was completed on graves of our fore fathers; and by destroying history and culture of the local area.

The dam uprooted more than 20,000 families, and people were forced to leave their homes and livelyhood. They were told that in order to meet water and energy need of Pakistan this dam has to be built; but they were promised that they will be compensated generously for this ‘sacrifice’.

Some of the things promised to them were as follows:

· Alternative residential plots
· Compensation for loss of business
· Alternative allotments for loss of irrigational land
· Free electricity
· Free Water supply
· A railway station and a railway line connecting Mirpur with national rail network of Pakistan
· 50% quota for employment
· Royalty for the dam to be paid to Azad Kashmir government

It is unfortunate to note that most of the promises were not honoured by respective Pakistani governments. To date not a single penny has been given as a royalty, electricity people of Mirpur get is of poor quality and expensive, there is no railway line or railway station in Mirpur or anywhere in Azad Kashmir, there is inadequate supply of drinking water and still there are more than 8,000 families who did not get their allotments.

And thousands of people who got allotments in various parts of Pakistan were unable to get possession of land; and because of intimidation and discriminatory treatment of the local people and local administration, were forced to return to Mirpur.

Mr Chairman

Let us look at the double standard of WAPDA
The above scenario should be compared with the construction of the Tarbela Dam in Pakistan which was constructed after the Mangla dam. Of course construction of this dam also uprooted families and villages, but they were properly compensated and resettled. The government of North West Frontier had a written Agreement with the WAPDA (Water And Power Development Authority), and used its power and influence to implement it in letter and spirit.

Evidence of this could be seen by news release of the WAPDA issued on 27 June 2003, which reads, and I quote:

‘WAPDA, in spite of its financial limitations, discharged its full and final liability towards Net Hydel Profit to the North West Frontier Province, well ahead of the fiscal year closure date June 30, 2003….According to the details, Article 161(2) of the Constitution provides for payment of Net Hydel Profit to the provinces. The amount due to be paid to NWFP for the year 2002-03 as fixed by the Government of Pakistan comes to Rs. 6 billion.
WAPDA has been regularly paying Net Hydel Profit to the Government of NWFP in spite of its financial problems. It may be recalled that for the years 1991-92 to 2001-2002 the North West Frontier Province received an amount of Rs. 65.662 billion against the projected amount of Rs. 57.425 billion
In other words, the Province has received Rs. 8.237 billion in excess during the above mentioned period.’

WAPDA Chairman is boasting that they have paid 8.237 billion Rupees in excess to the provincial government of North West Frontier and that is a share of profit for the Tarbela dam. We have a dam in Mirpur for which not a single penny has been paid to the government of Azad Kashmir since 1967.

Income from the Mangla Dam is around 7 billion Rupees per annum, and the dam has been operational and making profit for the Pakistani authorities for past 36 years. And if we multiply these two figures then we get a total of around 252 billion, and that is what government of Pakistan owes to Azad Kashmir, but there is no hope of receiving that because Pakistani officials treat Azad Kashmiris differently and less favourably.

And they have their puppets who will say that this is a ‘trivial matter’ and people of Kashmir are ready to make more sacrifices for Pakistan; and are ready to uproot themselves to build more dams for Pakistan. These puppets don’t ask government of Pakistan to build dams inside their own territory and complete projects like Kala Bagh.

In any case, Mr Chairman, ‘sacrifice’ is a voluntary action of individual or a group which is carried out to benefit someone else at the expense of that group or individual; but when Punjab Constabulary and other militia is used to get this ‘sacrifice’ then it is not a sacrifice but exploitation of our resources and subjugation of our people.

This situation is to be compared with the fact that planning for the Mangla dam and Kala Bagh dam started around same time in early 1950s. Both proposed constructions were opposed by the local people. Despite opposition of people of Mirpur a dam was completed in 1967; but for Kala Bagh dam despite millions spent in different studies and feasibility reports, as to date, not even a foundation brick is laid down due to fierce opposition from the local people and some powerful land lords.

Our opposition was put down by force; but their opposition was not put down by force but attempts have been made to offer them generous compensations. This shows how we the people of Azad Kashmir are treated differently and less favourably.

Mr Chairman, The people of Kashmir had a better deal under the British Raj, and allow me to elaborate this point.

The British government of undivided India had more respect and care for the people of Kashmir. Upper Jhelum Canal was constructed in 1914; this canal before entering, what is now Pakistani territory near Sarai Alamgir, runs through a Kashmiri territory.

The British Government of the time negotiated an agreement with the Maharaja government, and it had a number of benefits for the people of Kashmir, including payment of royalty of 1.7 million Rupees annually. Despite difficult times during the World Wars and recessions of 1930s, this amount was regularly paid by the Punjab government of the time to the Maharaja government every year.

After the partition of India these areas which are irrigated by the Upper Jhelum Canal became part of Pakistan, and since that no money is being paid to the government of Azad Kashmir which Pakistan claims to be the legitimate government representing the whole of Kashmir.

Salient points of the agreement between the British Government and the Maharaja government are as follows:

1. For the Upper Jhelum Canal the Maharaja will give his land, but it will be treated as a State territory and any land not used for the canal purposes will be returned to the State.
2. The government of Punjab will pay yearly compensation for the land affected, equal to revenue generated by this land.
3. The people of Kashmir will have right to use water free of any charge to irrigate their land.
4. The people of Kashmir will have right to construct mills or other grinding factories run by the use of water as a source of energy.
5. Government of Punjab will at their own expenses construct bridges along the rout of the canal that people of Kashmir can easily cross with their livestock and cattle carts.
6. If due to flood or some other means, damage is caused by the canal to property or crops in Kashmir, the government of Punjab will be responsible to pay compensation to local people.
7. The government of Punjab will pay compensation for all buildings, property or wells affected by the canal construction.
8. Any material brought in to State for the construction of the canal from outside of the State, the government of Punjab will have to pay royalty on each item.
9. The State government allows the Punjab government to build different residential and other commercial buildings to facilitate the construction work, but they will have to pay for any land used for such purpose.
10. Before the start of the work a clear rout of the canal has to be finalised ensuring that place of worship of any religion is not affected.
11. And people working on the canal will respect local laws and customs, and will not bring any item for consumption which is not permitted in the State.

Mr Chairman, the government of Pakistan had alternative to upraising

With passage of time all dams lose their ability to store water, but proper maintenance helps to overcome this problem. The Mangla dam had life of over 100 year, but due to poor maintenance the storage capacity has reduced; but at the same time supply of water coming to Mangla Dam has also reduced considerably. The present supply of water is insufficient to even fill the existing water storage capacity, but authorities are bent upon to upraise the dam which will further uproot more than 10,000 people of Azad Kashmir.

The Tarbela dam also has silting problem, and its capacity to store water has reduced, but WAPDA is looking at a feasibility report prepared by an American company, Tames, to de-silting the dam in order to increase its storage capacity. A similar report was prepared by Chinese experts as well.

Same method of de- silting was suggested to WAPDA with regard to the Mangla dam. But WAPDA has decided to upraise the dam at the cost of 64 Billion Rupees, and it will surely uproot more than 100,000 people and create hatred and tension between Kashmiris and Pakistan.

In opinion of experts that by de –silting the dam, water storing capacity could be increased considerably and it will only cost around 6 billion Rupees, and it won’t uproot any of the people living around Mirpur. The mud taken out of the dam could have been used to level waste land areas of Khalqa bad, Kakarra Town, Akalgarh, Dadyal, Jarri Kass etc., to prepare new residential plots to resettle people who still have not got their allotments since 1967.

According to some analysts and some Kashmiri politicians like Barrister Sultan Mahmood, who in a newspaper statement of 12 July 2003 said, that WAPDA and Azad Kashmir government wants to misappropriate this large sum allocated for the Mangla Dam extension.

WAPDA has allocated 300,000 rupees for each affected family of the original construction in 1967, as we know it would be virtually impossible to trace those people as many have died and others have dispersed in to various places, and money will go into pockets of corrupt officials who are found in abundance there.

According to World Bank Country Director, John Wall’s report, there is 100% corruption in judiciary, police, tax and land administration department in Pakistan. He said, and I quote:

"A hundred percent of respondents reported corruption while interacting with these sectors till January 2003 and this ratio is the highest among all of Pakistan's neighbouring countries including India and Bangladesh," Unquote

This report was released in Bhurban in Pakistan and reported in a Pakistani English paper, Daily Times of 28th June 2003. Mr Chairman, this shows that there are plenty of opportunities for some officials to make money, and that is why they oppose the idea of de silting and insist on upraising the dam. It must be noted that the cost of de silting is only 6 billion, and the cost of upraising is 64 billion, these officials are no fools, as they know that the bigger the bounty better the dividends for them.

Mr Chairman

I want to make another point which is not directly related to the Mangla Dam, but it seriously affects the welfare of the people of Azad Kashmir. Pakistani government owes millions of Rupee in rent which is due to government of Azad Kashmir for the State property situated in different parts of Pakistan. Before the Parturition of India, the Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir received annual rent for his properties from the then British Indian governments, and this only stopped after Pakistani government took over these properties.

I thank you Mr Chairman.